The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
